"The Cremation of Strasbourg Jewry, St. Valentine's Day, February 14, 1349— About the Great Plague and the Burning of the Jews"
Published in The Jew in the Medieval World, 1938
Between 1347 and 1351, Europe suffered one of the worst disasters of human history: the Black Death, sometimes known simply as the Plague. A disease carried by bacteria, or microscopic organisms, the Plague spread rapidly throughout the continent, killing between twenty-five and thirty-five million people out of a population estimated at 100 million. Victims usually died within four days of contracting the disease, but they were four days of horror. In the final hours, the victim turned purplish-black from lung failure; hence the name Black Death.
The medical causes of the Black Death are clear today, but medieval Europeans had no concept of bacteria. Instead, some blamed spiritual causes, while others found a different target: the Jews. For many years, a spirit of anti-Semitism (hatred of, or discrimination against, Jews) had been brewing in Europe, and many justified this hatred in religious terms, saying that the Jews had killed Christ.
As a result, Jews were forced into the fringes of society, and were only allowed to engage in certain jobs such as money-lending, which at that time was considered an evil
"The deputies of the city of Strasbourg were asked what they were going to do with their Jews. They answered and said that they knew no evil of them. Then they asked the Strasbourgers why they had closed the wells and put away the buckets, and there was a great indignation and clamor against the deputies from Strasbourg."
Jewish Sympathizers—A Rare Breed
Jacob von Konigshofen is a little-known figure, but perhaps he should not be. He served as town historian for Strasbourg, a German-speaking city that is now just inside the French border, and he was a rare type in medieval Western Europe: a Christian who had sympathy for the Jews.
Jews were all too often the target of attacks from the 1000s onward, and this reached a new low during the Black Death, a massive outbreak of disease that killed between twenty-five and thirty-five million Europeans between 1 347 and 1351. Desperate for someone to blame, many Europeans were all too willing to believe that Jews had poisoned wells, thus causing the disease.
From his account, it is clear that Konigshofen considered the Jews victims, and not the cause of anyone's misfortune. This was a brave stance in a world where Jews were safe targets. Also brave were the city councilmen to whom he referred, men who stood up against the mobs calling for Jewish blood.
Finally, it is interesting to observe that Pope Clement VI (ruled 1342-52), along with other leaders of the Catholic Church, defended the Jews: some Church leaders have openly condemned people of the Jewish faith for what they believe to be the Jews' role in the death of Jesus Christ. In fact the Roman authorities of Palestine at the time of the crucifixion had much to do with Jesus' murder, and most Christians believe that all of humanity—not one group of people—was responsible for Christ's death. But most Christians in the Middle Ages did not believe this, or at least they were afraid to say so in the feverish climate of hatred directed against the Jewish people, and this makes the stance of Konigshofen and the others all the more remarkable.
Profession. This created a vicious cycle: their financial undertakings made many Jews wealthy, and Europeans increasingly came to despise them for their wealth as well.
Anti-Semitism first boiled over during the First Crusade (1095-99), when European armies seized Palestine— the Jews' original homeland—from the Muslims who controlled it. Many other Europeans, too poor to go away and fight, decided they could still wage war on people who had rejected Christ, so they launched a series of attacks on the Jews in Europe. Some 150 years later, the Black Death provided an excuse for a whole new wave of anti-Semitism.
A Jewish synagogue. The Black Death prompted intense hatred and persecution of Jews as many Europeans looked for someone to blame for the disease. Reproduced by permission of the Corbis Corporation.
World History
